<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Evening Visit by Jestana</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29497839">Evening Visit</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jestana/pseuds/Jestana'>Jestana</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Femslash February 2021 [16]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Little Princess, A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Don't copy to another site, Gen, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:06:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,157</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29497839</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jestana/pseuds/Jestana</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ermengarde invites Lottie to visit for the evening.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lottie Legh &amp; Ermengarde St. John, Sara Crewe &amp; Ermengarde St. John, Sara Crewe &amp; Lottie Legh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Femslash February 2021 [16]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138613</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Femslash February</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Evening Visit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for Femslash February 2021. The prompt was 'crackship'.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Thank you for inviting me, Ermengarde," Lottie told her as they climbed the front steps to the townhouse Ermengarde shared with her father. "I'm not ready to go home."</p><p>Ermengarde smiled at Lottie over her shoulder as she dug her keys out of her purse and unlocked the door. "Not at all, Lottie. We have a lot of years to make up for, after all."</p><p>"Yes, we do." Lottie nodded her agreement, reminded that they'd last seen each other when she was ten and Ermengarde was 16.</p><p>Finished unlocking the door, Ermengarde pushed it open. An older man with graying black hair waited in the entryway. "Welcome home, Miss St. John."</p><p>"Thank you, Harrison." Ermengarde greeted him with a smile, removing her hat and overcoat. "I've brought a guest home for dinner. This is Charlotte Legh, an old school friend. Lottie, this is Harrison, our manservant."</p><p>Lottie offered her hand in greeting. "Nice to meet you."</p><p>"And you, Miss Legh." Harrison shook her hand, and then accepted Ermengarde's coat and hat. "May I take your things?"</p><p>Laughing sheepishly, Lottie removed her hat and coat and handed them to him. "Yes, thank you."</p><p>"Where is Father?" Ermengarde asked while Harrison hung their things in the coat closet.</p><p>Harrison raised an eyebrow at her, a hint of a smile lurking at the corners of his mouth. "In the library, of course."</p><p>"Of course." Laughing, Ermengarde took Lottie's hand and gently tugged. "Come on, Lottie."</p><p>Her friend led her through a comfortably furnished home to a room with the door partly open. When Ermengarde knocked briskly, a man's voice called from inside, "It's open, Ermengarde."</p><p>"One of these days, you're going to be wrong, Father," Ermengarde announced as she pushed the door open and stepped into the room.</p><p>Like the rest of the house, the library was comfortably furnished, the walls lined with bookcases. Grouped in the middle of the room were chairs and a sofa, looking plush and upholstered in matching dark green fabric. Seated in one of the chairs was an older man, his hair completely gray, and a closed book on his lap. He responded as Ermengarde walked over to him. "That day is not today, my dear."</p><p>"Obviously." Ermengarde bent to kiss his cheek, a gesture he reciprocated. "Father, I brought a guest to join us for dinner."</p><p>Taking her hand, he pulled himself to his feet, standing nearly as tall as Mr. Carrisford. Unlike Sarah's guardian, however, who was growing thicker around the waist, Mr. St. John was rail-thin and gangly. "I'm assuming your guest isn't Miss Crewe, since you'd have said as much."</p><p>"Yes, indeed." Looping her arm through her father's, Ermengarde led him over to where Lottie had lingered by the door. "Father, I'd like you to meet Charlotte Legh. She attended Miss Minchin's with me and Sarah."</p><p>Before Ermengarde could finish, her father interrupted, "Sarah and I, dear."</p><p>"Yes, Father." Ermengarde rolled her eyes at Lottie, who bit back a giggle. "Lottie, this is my father, Alfred St. John."</p><p>If Lottie had been wearing a skirt instead of slacks, she'd have curtsied. Instead, she offered her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. St. John."</p><p>"Likewise, Miss Legh." He extended his hand, which bumped into hers, and then clasped it. "My apologies. My eyesight isn't what it used to be."</p><p>Lottie nodded, shaking his hand. "I understand, Mr. St. John. No harm done."</p><p>"Let's go wait in the sitting room until dinner is ready," Ermengarde suggested once they finished shaking hands.</p><p>They proceeded there and spent the time before dinner talking about their day at The Ralph Crewe Home, an orphanage Sarah had started to provide food and shelter to orphans who hadn't had someone to take them in. Ermengarde, it turned out, volunteered there several days a week to tutor children struggling with their lessons. "Sarah was an immense help to me and I want to do the same for these children."</p><p>"I'm sorry you were so miserable, my dear, but I'm glad you gained such a good friend in Miss Crewe," Mr. St. John groped on the arm of his chair for a moment before Ermengarde took his hand and gave it a squeeze.</p><p>This was clearly a familiar subject, because Ermengarde didn't respond beyond the squeeze. Lottie cleared her throat. "Sarah helped me with my French lessons. Somehow, things just made more <i>sense</i> when she explained them to me."</p><p>"Exactly." Ermengarde agreed with a nod. "It's the only way I managed to learn."</p><p>Harrison announced dinner then and they trooped into the dining room for a simple, yet delicious dinner. Mr. St. John told them about his day, which seemed to have consisted of Harrison helping him settle the household accounts, Harrison reading aloud to Mr. St. John, and then the two men going for a walk in the nearby park. "You know, of course, that that always tires me out, so I took a nap once we returned. After I woke up, I went to the library to read until you got home, Ermengarde."</p><p>"The usual, then," Ermengarde observed with a fond laugh.</p><p>Mr. St. John chuckled with his daughter and silence reigned as they finished their dinner. Once they excused themselves, Ermengarde showed Lottie to the lavatory. Once she finished, she knew she should return home, but she didn't want to. She'd much rather stay and enjoy the quiet fondness Ermengarde shared with her father now. <i>All things being equal, perhaps Ermengarde can invite me to visit again some other time.</i></p><p>"Lottie, are you all right?" Ermengarde's voice distracted her from her thoughts when she emerged from the lavatory.</p><p>She nodded, managing to smile for her friend. "Yes, I'm fine, Ermengarde. I think it's time I headed home."</p><p>"Now? It's barely seven." Ermengarde looked rather disappointed. "I play piano for Father after dinner. Won't you stay and listen? At least for a little while?"</p><p>Touched that Ermengarde <i>wanted</i> her to stay, Lottie nodded again, her smile genuine this time. "Yes, I'll stay to hear you play, Ermengarde."</p><p>"Wonderful!" Smiling brightly, she caught Lottie's hand and led her to the sitting room, where Mr. St. John had resumed what was clearly his usual seat. "It's a concert for two tonight, Father."</p><p>He chuckled. "You're in for a treat, Miss Legh. Ermengarde plays very well."</p><p>"We didn't learn at Miss Minchin's," Lottie remarked, taking a seat on the couch while Ermengarde pulled the piano stool out and sat down.</p><p>Making a soft sound of agreement, Ermengarde shuffled through the sheet music on the piano in front of her and began to play. Lottie didn't know classical music well enough to recognize it, but she could tell that it was beautiful and Ermengarde truly <i>did</i> play well, her hands gliding smoothly up and down the keyboard to create the gorgeous music. As she listened, Lottie hoped that she could come back for more visits with Ermengarde and her father.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>In the book, Ermengarde and Lottie hardly interact, that we see as readers. So that's my justification for choosing this pair for the prompt.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>